Sai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth to clash in Super Series final, first shuttlers from India ever to do so.

For a country that has been waiting with bated breath to watch Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu face off in a grand finale, two male shuttlers will now serve that treat on a platter in Singapore Super Series today.

Two-time Superseries champion K Srikanth will take on B Sai Praneeth in the maiden All-Indian final, at this level, after bulldozing their respective opponents in the semi-finals yesterday. Only China, Indonesia and Denmark shuttlers have managed such a feat before this.

Srikanth hammered Indonesia’s Anthony Ginting 21-13 21-14 after Sai Praneeth cruised home 21-6 21-8 in just 38 minutes against Korea’s Lee Dong Keun. Playing in his maiden Superseries semi-final, the 24-year-old Sai Praneeth opened up an 11-1 lead in the opening game and never looked back thereafter.

“The match turned out to be easier than expected. I had a game plan against him and once I felt that his game wasn’t working today, I knew it was my day,” Praneeth told Mirror from Singapore.

The run to his maiden Superseries final also should go a long way in negating the underachiever tag for Sai Praneeth, who won a bronze medal in the 2010 World Junior Championship but could not translate that talent into success at the senior level.

Determined Praneeth

Known as the most all-round player with a plethora of strokes in his repertoire, Sai Praneeth was dodged with injuries and that meant selfdoubts kept creeping in. But the world number 30 seemed determined to turn the tide after a long injury lay-off three years ago and the added focus on fitness and improved work ethics definitely helped.

He bagged the senior national title in 2015 and then went on to beat world number one Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia in the All England Open and then bagged the Canada Open Grand Prix gold in 2016.

He reached the finals of the Syed Modi Grand Prix gold this year beating his today’s opponent Srikanth in the semi-finals.

In fact, Sai Praneeth holds a 4-1 head-to-head advantage against his more illustrious opponent but insists that it would mean nothing in the final analysis today.

“Yes, I have a better head-to-head but tomorrow is a fresh day and it can be anybody’s game,” he added.

It is a known fact in Indian badminton circuit that Sai Praneeth’s technique troubles Srikanth a lot and on that count the 2015 National champion should begin as a favourite.

When posed with the question, chief national coach Pullela Gopi Chand preferred to side-step the topic and said the match could be won or lost in the mind since Srikanth has the experience of playing in the finals while Sai will have to cope with the pressure of expectations.

“Irrespective of who wins, it’s a big achievement for Indian badminton. We always expected to see an All Indian final in women’s singles but it is great that two men’s singles players are facing off at this level.

“We have 5 or 6 men’s singles players playing at a very good level and at least one of them has been making it count in every tournament. But this time, two of them got things right together and we have an All-Indian final to enjoy,” he added.

While Sai Praneeth benefitted by the withdrawal of top seed Jan O Jorgensen, who he was to meet in the opening game, Srikanth had an easier start to the campaign against a qualifier.

“These things do matter but we must not forget that in a Superseries there are no easy matches and the players showed that they can match players at this level,” Gopi Chand said.

While, Sai Praneeth was involved in marathon three setters in all the matches before the semi-finals, Srikanth had to save three match points before beating Indonesia’s Ihsan Maulana Mustofa in the second round and then upset fifth seed and All England runners-up Shi Yuqi in the quarters.

Srikanth has won both the Superseries finals he has featured in and it will be interesting to see whether he will maintain his 100 percent record or India will have a second men’s singles Superseries champion.

Live on Star Sports 4 Live telecast of all finals will begin at 1 pm (IST) onwards. Praneeth and Srikanth are scheduled to play third match of the day.

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